Rear Wheel Bearings: Diagnosing Wheel Bearing Noise - rear wheel bearing assembly

2024-08-15 11:55:20

In my experience they start with a "wub, wub, wub, wub" kind of sound. Often it's hard to distinguish from road/tire noise.

It already is giving you a warning sign, its noisey. Its sort of like asking if your chest pains are a warining sign of a heart attack. By the time your asking it may be too late.

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I installed new bearings inmy 96 Legacy and it made noise right away even with the new Subaru bearings, meaning the hub was hosed. They made it 20,000 miles before giving out again this year. It kept the same general noise level for 20,000 miles. As soon as it started getting worse, it got worse quickly. Once it started getting worse, we probably put 500 miles on it before it got to the point the car was wandering and dangerous. So in my case - 500 miles once the noise started to change/get noticeably worse.

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it will go until it leaves you stranded, or maybe causes an accident at 70 mph. it's not going to stop turning in your drive way or at the shop. it's going to stop on the road.

Dave, might be a good time to invest in one of those infrared heat devices, they are sweet. I diagnosed a front wheel bearing last week on a friends car. Drove to my house, hit it with the gun and had it narrowed down in seconds.

Today the dealer replaced both rear wheel bearings, at no charge, covered under a 100k extended warranty Subaru is offering specifically for the wheel bearing issue.

Flanged Bearing size chart

I have a noisy front (pretty sure) wheel bearing on the right side, its slowly getting louder, I can hear it while going straight and its a little worse going left, quiets completely during a right-hand turn, and I'm starting to be able to feel a little thrumming through the steering wheel and the floor.

In my experience they start with a "wub, wub, wub, wub" kind of sound. Often it's hard to distinguish from road/tire noise.

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replace it now before the driving season starts, otherwise Mr Murphy will tap on your shoulder, usually after you get the car packed for a trip, the wife/kids are driving, or you really need to go someplace in it.

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i just looked up my spreadsheet - the bearings lasted 17,000 miles after they started making noise. i would guess every case is different, that was during winter, i would guess summer heat would have made it worse.

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20 ton press (yeah, the 12 ton would be enough, but it wasn't *that* much more, and the A-frame one looks cool- and it's best to derate HF tools anyway)

Unless both are bad, one manifests as a vibration that is not noticeable when driving, and the other manifests as a classic wheel bearing noise?

I am assembling the tools to do the job (I've wanted a press for a long time, heh, harbor freight here I come), and after they arrive I'll do the job as soon as I can determine which bearing it is.

I'm not an expert on wheel bearings or even bearings in general, but as a machinist in a shop that does it's own maintenance, I'll venture a guess.

i bet you got quite a bit of time yet then if it's not showing a temp difference. the temperatures will start destroying the bearing quickly and you haven't gotten there yet.

To find the one that is bad raise the two front tires off of the ground at the same time and spin the wheels one at a time while holding the coil spring. The one that is bad will cause vibration in the spring that you will feel with your hand. If they feel the same then do the back ones the same way. I wish I could credit the one that gave this tip here a few years back but I dont remember who it was.

Till it fails (which ttechnically it has already failed). Also you can be destroying the hub, as i have done that many times, and that quickly ups the repair bill. Just fix the thing before you need a bearing, hub, and a tow truck.

awesome dave, good luck with it! i've thought about doing the same thing, getting that press. i was just afraid i'd have no clue how to use it properly and mess up the hub/bearings.

I had a really noisy bearing in the head of a mill last summer. When I got it apart, it turned out to be one of the bearings on the motor shaft. It was a ball bearing and the balls appeared to be in good shape with just the slightest hint of wiggle indicating it was bad. But the section of shaft that the bearing was pressed onto was so wrinkled and distorted that one had to wonder if it was ever hardened. It was made overseas so I suppose one still should wonder, but assuming it was, that's at least one example of a bearing seat getting hammered. If I had tried to press a new bearing on that shaft, I'd be replacing it inside a month I'm sure.

Budget's been maxed out (as it should be!), I tested the temps (with the back of my hand) on the wheels around the lug nuts after a lengthy drive last night and all were cool, with both fronts slightly warmer than both rears.

If it starts to change and aget worse, i would lean towards the caution area. Mine got rather scary when it started to drift, pull, and wander on the road and that was just a rear bearing.

There was almost no temp difference with a borrowed IR thermometer. One or 2 degrees at most either way, depending on which way the wind blew on the drive.

If it starts to change and aget worse, i would lean towards the caution area. Mine got rather scary when it started to drift, pull, and wander on the road and that was just a rear bearing.

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My friends Legacy I just replaced front bearings on last weekend he drove a few hundred miles and it gradually got worse over the past couple weeks, they were quite loose when I pulled the hub Saturday. Don't know mileage though.

When towing a boat trailer, it is a common practice to check for failed wheel bearings by touching the hub. A very hot hub can mean a failing bearing. The disc brakes on a Subaru will normally generate quite a bit of heat. Could you use use hub temperature, say one hub is WAY hotter than the one on the other side of the car, as a fast and dirty checlk on the road?

I just took my 2005 OBW (57,000 miles) into the dealer today. I started hearing low humming sounds from the rear, and over the course of a month it slowly progressed to the sound a truck makes with aggressive oversized tires. I also started noticing it was a little harder to keep the car straight...almost like a strong wind blowing perpendicular to the car while on the highway at all times.

In a RIGHT turn the LEFT bearing is more heavily loaded, so I would expect the noise to be worse when the bad bearing is more heavily loaded.

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Dave, I also have the 20 ton H.F. press. I hope yours comes with the new plates. Mine came with the flat ones, but the other day when I was in the store I see they now have plates that are not flat on one side which would make doing the bearing jobs a lot more easy.

2001 Forester, 93000 miles on it. Driver's rear wheel ball bearing cracked (yes, one of the balls actually broke in half) during a highway drive on 11/26/8. It was very loud from then until yesterday 4/26/9 which is the earliest I could get to it to fix it. But for us that was only about 1500 miles. There never was any play or wiggle to the wheel.

Any bearing that has failed, ie has a damaged race, damaged cage, damaged roller/ball, etc, is not going to evenly distribute the centrifugal force and, given enough time, I could see how it would knock the seat (or hub in this case) out of round even ever so slightly. Once the hub is out of round, the new bearing will suffer the same fate as the old since it does not have even support around it's circumfrance.

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